J. G. Quintel

James Garland Quintel is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, writer, producer, and voice actor. He is best known as the creator of the Cartoon Network series Regular Show (2010–2017), in which he voiced Mordecai and High Five Ghost, and the HBO Max series Close Enough (2020–2022), in which he voiced Josh. Quintel was formerly the creative director for The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (2008–2010), which aired on Cartoon Network, and a writer and storyboard artist on Camp Lazlo (2006–2008). In 2009, he was nominated for the Annie Award for Directing in a Television Production for directing an episode of Flapjack. In 2011, he was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Short-format Animated Program category for Regular Show. Early life and education James Garland Quintel was born in Hanford, California the son of Terri (née Morris) and James Allen Quintel. According to Quintel, Hanford's geography is "kind of flat" and there "was not a ton to do" when he was growing up, so he and his friends were always looking for ways to entertain themselves; he later incorporated these kinds of misadventures into Regular Show. He was inspired by animators Matt Groening, Mike Judge, and Joe Murray, later working for the latter. Into his teenage years, he loved drawing and watching cartoons such as The Simpsons, Beavis and Butt-Head, Rocko's Modern Life, and The Ren & Stimpy Show, as well as British surreal comedy shows such as The League of Gentlemen, The Office, and The Mighty Boosh, which would later inspire Quintel's work. Quintel often played the video game ToeJam & Earl, the influence of which he later described as "the perfect platform" for Regular Show protagonists Mordecai and Rigby. He also became influenced by rock music from the 1980s and later added 1980s music into Regular Show. He attended Hanford High School. In 1998, when he was 16, his father gave him a video camera which he used (along with Lego men and crude paper cutouts) to create a few minutes of stop motion film for several short film projects at Hanford High School. To expand his artistry, he took an AP literature class and a pottery class at Hanford High, as well as a summer class where he learned how to animate films and make flip books. He also worked at a movie theater and at "a lot of minimum wage jobs", just as Mordecai and Rigby work for minimum wage at a park in Regular Show.